John Wick
Surreal thumping, pounding vengeance. Don't f*%k with Keanu's dog.
Long Review
6 months. A long time to listen to our American friends wax lyrical about how awesome John Wick was. Hard not to the let this high praise or hype alter your expectations though I hardly think this would bother John Wick in the slightest. Just don't mess with his dog.
Carrying out that act would not be advised as Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones' Theon Greyjoy) and his Russian mates soon find out. This dog is the only thing Mr. Wick has left in his life and when that last bright spark is put out, you wouldn't want to be the one holding the extinguisher.
So sets in motion a tale of vengeance. John Wick vs The Russian Mob and the gangsters are terrified. Sad Keanu Reeves is straight out of the memes but with a secret hitman past. Something to be terrified of indeed as Michael Nyqvist demonstrates when he finds out whose dog his son has messed with.
The film is slick and the action is thumping. The director, Chad Stahelski, has been a stuntman for years along with plenty of second unit directing on films, so he knows his way around an action sequence. Boy, does he show off. The action is reminiscent of The Raid with pounding elbows and martial arts. This is also the first film in a long time that makes gunplay entertaining again as John Wick's killer move is usually a gunshot or three. I must admit, it seems a fairly effective method. An extended sequence in a pulsating night club is the standout. With every elbow smash and gunshot fantastically choreographed and crunching for every beat.
A surreal hitman underworld and John Wick's reputation provide the film's sense of humour. They have their own code and hotel. Where a dinner reservation means a cleanup service for corpses and when a cop comes to your door, a stack of bodies and gunshots is as much trouble as a little noise complaint.
So we know where the story goes and we generally know how we'll get there but John Wick's slick action, the surreal gallows humour and the refreshing idea that the villains are terrified of him makes this immensely enjoyable. If you take anything away from this, let it be the lesson that you don't mess with a man and his dog.
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Grog's Movie BlogsI'm Greg and I like watching the movies and playing the video games.
Embarr Films was created by myself, Ethan Barr, as somewhere to share film views with local film lovers.
It all began in the early days of 2013 with a Twitter account. I used that account to post my film views and often tweeted little film reviews confined to those 140-character bubbles. We have since expanded and now also have a Facebook page where we're also happy for you to get in touch and share your thoughts!
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Don't bother.
Meh.
Decent.
Pretty good.
Loved it!